Blagojevich raises lawmakers' pay, ire

Move seen as bid to secure health deal

August 20, 2007|By Ray Long and Rick Pearson, Tribune staff reporters

SPRINGFIELD — As midnight Monday approached last week, Gov. Rod Blagojevich decided to turn his back on a campaign pledge and boosted legislative salaries by nearly 10 percent, or about $5,500 each for rank-and-file lawmakers.

Though Blagojevich opposed pay increases for state officials in his two successful campaigns for governor, he said he thought that if he signed the bill to give legislators fatter checks, they might reciprocate with a political favor in return -- backing his plan for a massive expansion of state-subsidized health care.

But even in his explanation, Blagojevich tried to cast legislators as venal money-grabbers rather than social-policy progressives, a move that ratcheted up tensions in the already poisonous political atmosphere of a record legislative overtime nearly 12 weeks old.

"I want to say this in a nice way, but that [salary increase] seems to be, among many legislators, the single biggest priority for them," Blagojevich said. "And I ... felt that if that's so important to them, this is what really motivates their priorities, then maybe if I respect their priorities, maybe they'll respect the priority I have, which is providing health care to families."

The Democratic governor's explanation for his near-midnight maneuver did not sit well with lawmakers.

She suggested that the governor was trying to buy off lawmakers by saying he would give them pay raises and expect them to support what he wanted.

Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) said the idea that pay raises would coax lawmakers to look favorably on the governor's health-care plan is "ludicrous thinking on his behalf."

"A pay hike does not, is not and will not be a factor in my decision to support a health-care proposal," said Sandoval, who had already voted for Blagojevich's plan, which stalled in the Senate.

"There's no trade-off, there's no payoff, and there's no quid pro quo for health care or any other priority the governor may have, for that matter," he said.

In a surprise move last week, the governor declared that he will veto $500 million in pork-barrel and other spending and try to rechannel money into health-care programs he planned to expand.

Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), who worked with Blagojevich for an even broader health-care proposal, supported the governor's plan for a veto and more health money. But Jones made it clear that the health-care proposal and the pay increases were not linked, saying he had fought for the raises for more than a year.

Salary increases for lawmakers and top state officials have traditionally been one of the most controversial of political issues, often earning the contempt of the taxpaying public.

This time, though Blagojevich bucked his campaign vows and further risked his standing among voters, he also was able to satisfy Jones, the governor's lone ally among the legislative leaders and an ardent advocate for the pay increases.

The increases would boost pay for rank-and-file lawmakers to a minimum of $63,143 and up to $88,179 for the four legislative leaders.

Statewide elected politicians like Blagojevich and their top staff members are in line for pay increases, too, but some, including the governor, have said they won't take the raises.

The raises would rise even more -- higher than 13 percent -- if Blagojevich approves an additional 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase that lawmakers say is funded in the budget sitting on the governor's desk.

The saga of the 9.6 percent pay increases goes back to even before last fall's election. It involves political maneuvering by Jones that, in part, relied on a belief that voters have a short attention span after the ballots are cast.

In the spring of last year, a special panel charged with recommending state pay increases proposed the 9.6 percent raises. By law, the recommendations of the Compensation Review Board automatically go into effect unless the House and Senate both reject them.

Shortly after the board's report came out, Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) led the House in rejecting them. The move gave the public an upfront vote on the volatile issue before the November election.

But Jones chose to wait until after the election, saying he was too busy dealing with other legislative matters to consider the salary increases.

With the issue in limbo before voters went to the polls, Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor would block any post-election efforts by lawmakers to give themselves a raise. She said he would use his line-item veto power to scuttle any such funding.

Blagojevich himself said that "there shouldn't be a pay raise" and that he would personally refuse to take one. "It's not right," Blagojevich said. "Families are struggling across Illinois."